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The 25 Companies Where Top Millennials Most Want to Work

Where do members of the millennial generation most want to work in 2013? According to a new survey by an organization called the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), health care companies are the most popular choices, taking eight of the top 25 slots out of a list of 200 companies. NSHSS is made up of 830,000 members who have demonstrated high academic achievement. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a pediatric treatment and research hospital that focuses on children’s catastrophic diseases in Memphis, Tenn., ranks No. 1, ahead of GoogleGoogle, the top choice last year, which has fallen to No. 4 on the list. There are two other high tech companies in the top 25, AppleApple (No. 5) and MicrosoftMicrosoft (No. 10). FacebookFacebook fell out of the top 25 this year, dropping from No. 17 last year to No. 38. This is the sixth year NSHSS has done the survey.

The most popular places to work are in health care-related companies, taking up eight slots on the list, including Health Care Service Corp., the nation’s largest customer-owned health insurer at No. 8, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at No. 9, and the Mayo ClinicMayo Clinic at No. 11.

Government agencies take six slots in the top 25 list this year, ahead of high tech, with just three entries. The FBI is the most preferred, at No. 6, followed by the CIA at No. 7., the State Department at No. 12, the National Security Agency at No, 17, the Air Force at no. 18 and the Navy at No. 25.

Why are government agencies and health care companies so popular with millennials? “The focus on helping others is what millennials are responding to,” says Jim Lewis, CEO of NSHSS. St. Jude’s takes the top slot, he says, because it does such a good job of media outreach, with spokespeople like Jennifer Aniston, Robin Williams and Marlo Thomas. Millennials also like the fact that it treats young people.

What about the interest in government agencies like the FBI and the CIA? “I don’t know if it’s because of the economy, but there is more security career-wise at these agencies,” says Lewis. Millennials want the sense that they are “giving back to the community,” he adds.

Why did Google and Facebook drop in the rankings this year? “These companies are more mainstream now and not as exciting,” he says.

The NSHSS, based in Atlanta, is an 11-year-old membership honor society founded by Claes Nobel, a member of the Swedish Nobel family (Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and creator of the Nobel prize, is the best known). NSHSS’s membership, aged 15-27, is international, representing 160 companies, though 96% of the members come from the U.S. The organization is diverse, with 49% identifying themselves as non-white. To be admitted to the group, students need to have a minimum grade point average of 3.5. Members are nominated by high school teachers or counselors and they pay one-time dues of $60. Membership lasts a lifetime, which is why a number of the members are in their late 20s.

The survey was done by email from March 8-19, and more than 9,000 members participated. NSHSS gave respondents a list of 200 companies, drawn from Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity, additional companies from Fortune’s Global 500 and write-in choices from prior surveys. The survey asked respondents to choose up to three companies and they were allowed to write in choices. The complete list of 200 companies will appear on NSHSS’s website on Monday, May 13.

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